Divers search for remains in Cuba after plane crashes, killing 16

Posted: Saturday, March 16, 2002

BAEZ, Cuba (AP) - Divers retrieved the bodies of 16 people, including a dozen foreigners, from a small reservoir in central Cuba Friday as officials tried to determine what caused the Soviet-made biplane to crash.

Everyone aboard the single-engine Antonov AN-2 were killed when it went down Thursday afternoon near this small community just south of Santa Clara, the capital of Villa Clara province about 165 miles east of Havana.

Farmer Ramon Sampiero said he was feeding his pigs when he saw the plane start to lower in the sky.

"I saw it fly very low, but did not hear it crash," he said.

Another local resident, Ramona Montero, 36, said the craft was spinning as it went down. She also said she heard no explosion.

Officials identified the dead as a German couple, four Cubans, four Britons and six Canadians, including two children ages 5 and 6.

The crash occurred as the chartered aircraft traveled from the central city of Cienfuegos to Cayo Coco, a resort in the keys stretching along the main island's northern coast, where all the victims were staying.

Metal parts and other debris from the plane were scattered across the yards of the modest farm homes near the reservoir, which is used to irrigate crops in the region.

Divers in two boats retrieved the bodies and plane wreckage as dozens of police, firefighters and military officials surrounded the area, many trying to find answers to the crash. Fire trucks, cranes and other emergency vehicles moved around the reservoir across rolling hills dotted with farm homes, crops and the local cemetery.

Seven cars carrying caskets left the area around daybreak.

The AN-2 model, the world's largest biplane, was operated by the small local charter company Aerotaxi. The telephone at the company's Havana office rang unanswered Friday.

In the past, some AN-2 planes were used by Soviet paratroopers, but most were used as small passenger planes that traveled within the former Soviet Union.